Padres, local restaurants team up

LINDSEY BESECKER lbesecker@nctimes.com

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Fans who visited Petco Park in the first month of the San Diego Padres season may have noticed a few changes to the downtown ballpark. While concessions still offer hot dogs, the park has several new food vendors, including a couple from North County.

Local favorites Bull Taco and Nothing Bundt Cakes are now offering their fare at home games, joining Filippi's Pizza, which began serving slices in the 2011 season. Other newcomers are Chocolat (crepes and gelato) and Hodad's (burgers and fries).

"Over the past two years, we've tried to make a considerable effort to partner with local companies in general," said Brent Stehlik, Padres senior vice president of business operations.

Stehlik said the newest vendors were selected by the fans. He said Padres President Tom Garfinkel sent out tweets asking for fan food favorites. Stehlik said several were overwhelming choices, which led to approaching those vendors. And he said bringing in those vendors has helped concession sales so far, despite a dip in attendance.

"You're trying to find reasons for people to get off the couch (and come to the ballpark), and I think food, at most ballparks, is a deterrent," he said, citing cost and quality. "Hopefully, here it becomes a reason that people want to come to the ballpark."

For Craig Leslie of Bull Taco, which has locations in Cardiff and Oceanside, offering the restaurant's "inauthentic Mexican" has given it a lot of exposure.

"I think it's great," Leslie said of bringing local vendors to the stadium. "Obviously people are going to go there and watch the game, (and) you want to give the customer a good experience, and a lot of that is the food."

Bull Taco has two locations in the ballpark, including The Pier Cantina, which serves chicken and carne asada tacos, as well as the best-selling lobster, bacon and chorizo taco. Leslie said he'll test out a few of Bull Taco's more adventurous tacos and see how they sell. In the first days of the season, duck tacos were offered, but they were pulled off the menu after low sales.

"We're looking to add a few more once things get flowing," Leslie said, mentioning a possible trial run for a pork belly taco soon.

Near Bull Taco in the Mercado behind home plate, Filippi's Pizza is well into its second year of serving pizza at the park. Filippi's can be found at several locations around the stadium, and vendors also carry slices in hot bags to the seats. Besides cheese and pepperoni slices, Filippi's added a "works" slice with sausage, pepperoni and mushroom. And it's a lot of work to make enough pizza to serve several thousand hungry Padres fans.

"The first home series was a lot, a lot of pizza," said Bob DePhilippis. "Any time the Dodgers come to town, they have to get in there at 3 or 4 in the morning to start making pizza."

DePhilippis said it made sense to serve at Petco, because of the location and the exposure.

"I think it's a great idea," he said. "People recognize the local vendors that are in there, and I'm sure that they're glad to see it. I think it's fantastic. And the Padres are great to work with."

After pizza and tacos, fans can grab a slice of bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes, which has standing stores in Del Mar and Poway. Franchise owner Mara Fortin knew years ago that she'd like to serve at Petco. When she opened her first franchise, she took bundt cakes down to the stadium, but the Padres weren't bringing in local vendors at that point.

Five years later, she credits Garfinkel's wife, Allison, with getting Nothing Bundt Cakes in the stadium door.

"(She) was the one who said, 'If you're getting local places, you have to get Nothing Bundt Cakes,'" Fortin said.

"I think they're definitely on the right track," she said. "They're making it now an event destination ... not just for those who want to watch a ballgame."

Stehlik said the Padres may bring in more local vendors (the new vendors join Anthony's Fish Grotto, Donovan's Wine Bar, Randy Jones BBQ and several craft brewers) before the season's over.

"I love the fact that we're partnering with local businesses," he said. "I still think there's some areas that we can go and attack and bring in for the fans.

"To me, it feels like a no-brainer because you want to partner with local businesses and give a taste of the area. ... If our fans like it and continue to come out and show support for it, that's all I need."